The LTE 1800 bandwagon continues to gain momentum with the launch of a new network in five Lithuanian cities, including the capital Vilnius.
This is the second commercial launch in Europe following one in Poland last year and the third worldwide, with CSL having recently launched a joint 1800/2600 MHz LTE service.
There have been extensive trials in Europe and elsewhere and vendors such as Ericsson are predicting 1800 will become a international LTE band alongside 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz in Europe and 700 MHz and 2.6 GHz in the Americas.
Australian incumbent Telstra recently announced it is rolling out LTE at 1800 MHz in the country's main cities to supplement its existing HSPA+ network running at 2.1 GHz. Rival operator Optus is expected to follow suit.
The Lithuanian service is from Scandinavian operator TeliaSonera, which launched the world's first commercial LTE network on 2.6 GHz spectrum in Norway and Sweden last year and has since launched in Finland, Denmark and Estonia.
The network equipment in Lithuania, where TeliaSonera operates under the Omnitel brand, was supplied by Chinese vendor Huawei. Modems supporting GSM, WCDMA and LTE are supplied by its main domestic rival, ZTE.
The rollout in the 1800 MHz band was made possible by EU legislation which removed restrictions on using the band - along with the 900 MHz band - only for GSM services.•
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